Torogoz Introduces Latin Flavor to Sewickley

Cocktails are a must at Torogoz.

Torogoz opened to much anticipation in late September 2025. It’s one of two restaurants a part of Sewickley’s new food-centric piazza. It’s already proving its worth with a standout menu and a cozy, chic atmosphere.

I’ve never seen a menu like Torogoz in Pittsburgh. The restaurant is a unique blend of Latin cuisines. The menu is small, with around 20 dishes, but packed with flavor.

Torogoz has an impressive and inventive cocktail menu, so my table had to start off our meal by tasting a couple. We ordered the Besito de Mora and the Fuego del Paraiso to enjoy with our appetizers. Both cocktails were fruit-forward. The Besito de Mora had rum, mint, blackberry, and citrus. The cocktail was tangy from the blackberry and citrus, with a hit of freshness from the mint. The Fuego del Paraiso was made with jalapeño tequila, mezcal, lime, passionfruit, and orange liqueur. The jalapeño tequila and mezcal gave the drink a smokiness, but the fruit and orange liqueur evened it out with a touch of sweetness.

The Torogoz ceviche was the best dish of the evening.

The ceviche has its own dedicated section on the menu, so you know I had to get at least one of them. There were four different types of ceviche: the Torogoz ceviche, prepared with a different fish each day; the ceviche mixto, made with the catch of the day, octopus, and calamari; aguachile made with shrimp; and a vegan ceviche made with mushrooms.

I opted for the Torogoz ceviche with the catch of the day, which was mahi mahi when I visited. This was a standout dish at Torogoz and a must-order. Despite Pittsburgh being a landlocked city, the mahi mahi tasted like it had been caught that morning. It was incredibly tender. The fish was bathed in leche de tigre, which is a traditional Peruvian marinade for ceviche. The fresh lime juice, red onion, various chiles, cilantro, garlic, and ginger “cook” the fish and create a fresh, zesty sauce. The raw choclo, which is a large-kernel, less sweet variety of Andean corn commonly found in South America, added a delightful crunch and further enhanced the freshness of the dish. The puréed sweet potato added a fluffy, creamy element to the dish that rounded it out. Every bite of this ceviche was better than the last, and I nearly cried when the plate was empty. I even briefly considered ordering a second round. Alas, there were other dishes to sample.

The night I visited, the starters were limited, and only the pastelitos and tamalitos were available. The pastelitos were delightfully crisp and had a slight nuttiness thanks to their outer shell. The chicken inside was tender and full of warm flavors thanks to the chipotle and guajillo (a type of chile) salsa. I devoured these beauties. The tamalitos were more mild, but the chicken and corn masa were fluffy and fell apart at the first bite. There was a slight sweetness to this dish that I enjoyed. While everything was delectable, I wished there was some more variety within the appetizer selection. I would have loved to see a vegetable or beef option. Hopefully, Torogoz’s appetizer menu can be expanded in the coming months.

The skirt steak was cooked to perfection.

Unlike the appetizer section, there was a plethora of main courses to choose from. My table ended up selecting the skirt steak and pork mole. When the skirt steak hit our table, I gasped. It was cooked to absolute medium-rare perfection. Every bite was more succulent than the last. The chimichurri sauce drizzled on top added a herbaceous, vegetal flavor that complemented the rich, buttery steak. The steak was also served with guasacaca, which is essentially a creamy avocado salsa. It was tangy and paired well with both the steak and the crispy fries served on the side.

The pork mole was clearly made with love.

The first bite of the pork mole was bursting with a deep, smoky, and savory flavor. It’s clear a lot of work went into preparing this deeply aromatic sauce. As for the pork, the texture was a bit too tough for my liking. It tasted slightly overcooked. The luscious mole more than made up for that, though.

The churros were so fluffy and delicious that we ordered a second round.

Since we were at a Latin restaurant, I knew we had to indulge in an order of churros. We paired them with the Maracas cocktail and the Canela Beso. The Maracas was made with rum, tequila, Cointreau, pineapple, coconut, and lime. With three different types of alcohol, you know that drink was strong, but the acidity from the pineapple and lime and the creaminess from the coconut balanced it perfectly. The Canela Beso was made with vanilla vodka, Kahlua, RumChata, and cinnamon. It was luxuriously silky, and the warm flavors from the RumChata and cinnamon made it the perfect winter beverage. Both cocktails paired well with our dessert. The churros were dusted with cinnamon sugar and had a delightful crunch on the outside and a hot, fluffy inside. They were so addicting that the entire table was fighting over the last one. Mercifully, we decided that the best use of our free will was to just order a second round.

Torogoz has some room for improvement, but overall I enjoyed nearly all of the menu items I tasted. Several of them were absolutely perfect and hint at what the kitchen is capable of. I’m looking forward to returning once the restaurant has been open for a bit longer and the kitchen has found its rhythm. The foundation is promising, and it will be exciting to see how Torogoz evolves.